Broadly speaking, there are four types of vacuum cleaner: “upright” vacuum cleaners, “cylinder” cleaners (also referred to as “canister” cleaners), “handheld” vacuum cleaners and “stick” vacuum cleaners, the latter being popularly referred to as “stick-vac” cleaners, or simply “stick-vacs”.
Upright cleaners and cylinder cleaners are well known. They tend to be mains-operated and are used for relatively heavy-duty cleaning applications.
Handheld vacuum cleaners are relatively small, highly portable vacuum cleaners, best suited to relatively low duty applications such as spot cleaning floors and upholstery in the home, interior cleaning of cars and boats etc. Unlike upright cleaners and cylinder cleaners, they are designed to be carried in the hand during use, and tend to be battery-operated.
Stick-vac cleaners essentially offer a lightweight, functional alternative to upright cleaners for relatively low duty floor-cleaning applications, such as cleaning up floor spills.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of stick-vacs. The first type is, in a sense, an ultra slim-line upright cleaner, though usually “cordless” rather than mains-operated. An example of this type of stick-vac cleaner is shown in UK Patent Application No. GB2377880A1, in this case additionally incorporating a removable, handheld vacuum-cleaning unit. Stick-vacs of this first type may be free-standing; otherwise, they tend to be stored simply by leaning the stick-vac against a wall when not in use (in the manner of a long-handle brush or broom).
The second type of stick-vac cleaner is a spin-off from the handheld vacuum cleaner, and comprises a handheld suction unit which is carried in the hand in the same way as a handheld vacuum cleaner, but in combination with a rigid, elongate suction wand which effectively reaches down to the floor so that the user may remain standing while cleaning a floor surface. A floor tool is typically attached to the end of the rigid, elongate suction wand, or alternatively may be integrated with the bottom end of the wand. Designs of this type of stick-vac cleaner are shown in U.S. D298875, U.S. D303173 and U.S. D280033. In each case, the handheld suction unit incorporates the motor, the fan and some sort of separating apparatus, which may be a bag or a cyclonic separation system.
Stick-vac cleaners of the second type are predominantly multi-mode, hybrid machines: in such cases, the wand is removable and the handheld suction unit may then be used independently as a handheld vacuum cleaner, as desired. However, this is not an essential feature of these types of stick-vac cleaners and it is conceivable that the wand may be permanently attached to the handheld suction unit.
A feature which distinguishes stick-vacs of the second type from stick-vacs of the first type is that the first type is “bottom heavy”—the motor is located low down in similar manner to a full-sized upright cleaner—whereas the second type is “top heavy”—the use of a handheld suction unit in combination with an elongate suction wand means that the motor (being inside the handheld suction unit) is located nearer the top end of the machine.
The “top heavy” distribution of weight in stick-vacs of the second type means that they are not particularly convenient to store in stick-vac mode. If the stick-vac cleaner is leaned against a wall in an upright position with the floor tool supported on the floor and the handheld suction unit resting against the wall, the relative weight of the handheld suction unit tends to make the stick-vac cleaner as a whole unstable. On the other hand, if the stick-vac cleaner is turned upside down and leaned against the wall with the relatively heavy handheld vacuum cleaner supported on the floor, the relatively dirty lower end of the cleaner will consequently rest against the wall, which is undesirable. Also, when the stick-vac cleaner is stored in an upside down position rather than an upright position, the natural inclination is to grasp the stick-vac cleaner in the region of the relatively dirty lower end of the stick-vac cleaner in order to turn the cleaner back round to the upright position for use.
Consequently, conventional stick-vac cleaners of the second type often tend to be stored on the floor or, where there is insufficient space to do so, tend to be partly disassembled for storage after use and then reassembled again when it is desired to use the machine in stick-vac mode. The need for disassembly and reassembly in particular discourages use of the machine in stick-vac mode.